Electronic mail has become one of the most widely used business productivity application. However, people increasingly feel frustrated by their electronic mail. They are overwhelmed by the volume, lose important items, and feel pressure to respond quickly. Though email usage has changed, electronic mail clients have changed little since they were first invented. Although current electronic mail clients are more graphical with onscreen buttons, pull-down menus and rich-text display, they are essentially derivative programs of the electronic mail clients from thirty years ago. Most electronic mail clients today have the same set of features and organizational structures: multiple folders in which messages can be filed, a textual listing of the messages within a given folder, and the ability to preview a selected message. However, studies have shown that folder systems quickly degrade with the number of messages people receive. Many people end up keeping all of their electronic mail in one large folder. The content and use of electronic mail has also changed. In addition to traditional letters, electronic mail now consists of invitations, receipts, transactions, discussions, conversations, tasks, and newsletters, to name a few variations.
A problem facing people in organizations is persistence. Too often projects get started only to lose momentum because of the effort required to track actions, activity and progress. The large volume of electronic mail with which most people must cope in conjunction with the inefficient electronic mail tools currently available exacerbates this problem. Many electronic mail users spend many unproductive hours sorting, prioritizing, and responding to electronic mail. This time depletes the time spent performing productive work. In addition, many current electronic mail applications do not interact with other productivity tools of the user, such as calendar programs and collaborative meeting applications. Accordingly, the user must repeatedly shift focus among different applications, possibly using his or her concentration on the current item. Also, with a large number of unread electronic mail items it is often difficult and time consuming to find items that are urgent, of interest or require an affirmative response.
Accordingly a need exists for electronic mail tools which facilitate greater efficiency in viewing, processing and responding to electronic mail.
A further need exists for an electronic mail viewer or inbox that enables users to preview electronic mail, organize types of mail, quickly respond to certain types of mail, and view complete conversation threads associated with electronic mail correspondence.
A further need exists for the ability to categorize incoming electronic mail items and to dynamically change the visual representation categorization as desired by the viewer.